Even in marketing honesty is the best policy

Well marketers, you’ve only got another month or so to lie, cheat and deceive people online. After that you’ll actually be committing an offense you can get done for. Good! In my (occasionally) humble opinion, we have a duty as an industry to be responsible in our communications - and anyone that isn’t deserves everything they’ve got coming to them. So here’s what you can get done for as from May 26th:

• Seeding positive messages about a brand in a blog without making clear that the message comes from, or on behalf of, a brand.
• Lurking around forums and other online social spaces dropping messages without disclosing that you’re actually a brand ambassador.
• Seeding viral ads on the internet in a way that implies you’re just an everyday member of the public.

With any luck, this new legislation will protect the world from online disasters like WalMart’s campervan tour and Sony’s ‘I want a PSP for Christmas’ blog. I’m just wondering what the sentence will be for any transgressors that get caught. Maybe forcing them to use dial-up for six months would be painful enough to make them change their nefarious ways.